How do you convey a feeling? Trek needs to find a feasible answer to this question in the near future. Because one of its most important innovations for the 2023 season is supposed to inspire people who have so far ruled it out for themselves to ride an ebike by providing an unprecedented riding experience.
Ebikes are booming. In the past three or four years, sales have rushed from one record to the next. This is true in Europe, but also worldwide. Most bicycle manufacturers will be pleased about this, as they have long since recognised this segment as the engine that will drive the industry in the medium term. At the same time, they consider that 43 percent of all new bicycles sold in Germany in 2021 had an e-drive. So 57 percent of potential purchases are waiting to be tapped here.
No compromises
Behind these purchasing decisions are people. Some of them are convinced to forego electric assistance for cycling. For them, ebikes seem too heavy and too powerful. They would have to adapt their preferred riding style to motorised bicycles and understandably have no desire to do so. They would rather continue to use their traditional, regular bike.
It is precisely these people that Trek wants to convince that there is now a category of ebikes where no one has to back down. The first result of this idea is the Fuel EXe. This is an e-mountain bike with a suspension travel of 150 millimetres for the fork and 140 millimetres for the rear triangle, 29-inch wheels and the HPR50 drivetrain from TQ, which has also just been presented. With its seat angle of 77 degrees and the head angle of around 65 degrees, the Fuel EXe reveals its character as a more aggressive trail bike that clearly tends towards enduro.
The secret of lightness
To find the target group for this bike, Trek took a close look at who rides bikes like this that don’t have an e-drive. Who are they? How do they ride these bikes? In what terrain? And apparently the manufacturer has come to the conclusion that they are dealing with people who ride their bike instead of being ridden by it. They prefer technically demanding terrain, where liveliness counts, quickly laying the bike from one side to the other, jumping over obstacles, or playfully circling around the tightest curves.
Weight therefore plays a decisive role. Frame geometry, of course. Just like the strength of the e-drive. On the Fuel Ex, Trek solves this formula as follows: a little more than 18 kilograms, chainstay with a length of 440 millimetres and 50 Newton metres of torque. Test riders from all areas, mountain biking and e-mountain biking, were able to come to terms with these parameters after many kilometres on the trails.
Perfect opening
In the subsequent transfer into a complete bike, Trek certainly benefited from the fact that the TQ drive makes it enormously easier for manufacturers to design an ebike that doesn’t show the “E”. For the extremely small motor with its weight of only 1,850 grams and the Q-factor of 135 millimetres, it is almost sufficient to use a bottom bracket that can be taken from the frame set of a regular bike. The slim 360 watt-hour battery in the down tube is similarly easy to overlook. You will also look in vain for elaborate cooling fins. The harmonic pin-ring transmission used in the HPR50 requires relatively little power from the battery, works without any significant friction of its components and also turns rather slowly. This also means that hardly any waste heat is generated, which has to be dissipated in an elaborate – and visually conspicuous – manner.
Since their small volumes allow it, the motor and battery sit very low in the carbon frame. This lowers the centre of gravity far down, which promotes riding stability and lets you push the limits of what is rideable.
In search of a whisper-quiet one
What is audible from the motor, on the other hand, is usually out of your control. However, many of you will know from your own experience that the noise level has a great influence on the riding experience. After all, cycling is often about the experience of nature. It’s annoying when the motor constantly drowns this out. Trek went to extensive efforts to analyse how the HPR50 in the Fuel EXe compares to competitors before presenting the novelty. Everything indicates that the acoustics will not be the factor that makes interested parties shy away from this ebike. In corresponding tests in an acoustics laboratory, the drive proved not to be noiseless, but very quiet. Moreover, the sounds it emits are said to be in a range that the human ear finds quite pleasant.
No false modesty
In any case, Trek seems to be fully convinced of the potency of the drive as well as the core of the bike with its frame and suspension system. The Fuel EXe leaves the impression of a true new beginning rather than a test balloon. We interpret the model depth with which Trek starts as an indication of this. You can choose from a total of six models. Prices range from 6,499 euros for the entry-level model, the Fuel EXe 9.5, to 14,999 euros for the top model, the Fuel EXe 9.9 XX1 AXS. Three of these models cost more than 10,000 euros. If you want, you can certainly recognise a piece of the typical US-American self-confidence in this, which likes to communicate a perceived superiority in the competition, among other things, via the price.
In terms of technology, the range extends from derailleur gears and brakes on the level of Shimano’s Deore groupset to the electronic high-end XX1Eagle AXS groupset from Sram in combination with electronic sensors for tyre pressure (TyreWiz) and shock setup (AirWiz).
Trek Fuel EXe 2023 at a glance
- Variants: Fuel EXe 9.9 XX1 AXS, Fuel EXe 9.9 XTR, Fuel EXe 9.8 GX AXS, Fuel EXe 9.8 XT, Fuel EXe 9.7, Fuel EXe 9.5
- Motor: TQ HPR50
- Battery: TQ 360 Wh
- Control unit and display: TQ LED display + TQ Remote
- Suspension fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate, RockShox Lyrik Select+, Fox Rhythm 36, RockShox 35 Gold RL
- Drivetrain: Sram XX1 Eagle AXS, Shimano XTR, Sram GX Eagle AXS, Shimano XT, Shimano Deore
- Brakes: Sram Code RSC, Shimano MT9120, Sram Code R, Shimano MT8120, Shimano MT6100, Tektro HD-M745
- Maximum permitted total weight: 136 kg
- Price: from 6,499 euros
Pictures: Trek Bicycle Corporation
